"Beth is back in the Hosp. some kind of infection in the brain -- I'm scared."

7-7-09 ***UPDATE*** on Bethany from her Gramma

"Bethany is doing great!! She (and her mom) will be meeting with her neurosurgeon in 2 weeks to find out about her 2nd surgery. Her first surgery went so well, and we have been so lucky with her continuing recovery from that, we pray and hope the 2nd goes as well. She will have medical issues her whole life, but they are manageable ones, and the brain damage from the 1st surgery isn't noticeable at all.

"Everyone's prayers have certainly helped her and we appreciate them!

"Thank you,

Harriet (aka Bethany's Gramma)"

sent: June 2, 1009

"My friends 3 year old granddaughter has to have brain surgery today. They just found out she has two tumors, one on her pituitary gland and one on her optic nerve. This is very serious and we need all the prayers we can get for sweet little Bethany.

"Thank you!
"Donna"

Update: June 18, 2009

"Luckily she didn't have cancer! She survived the surgery, only lost the site in one eye and isn't a vegetable! Based on that, I'd say it was a success... but they couldn't get all of one of the tumors... not sure what they are going to do about that... and she's not out of the woods yet... but much better than she was! Thank you!"

Thank you all for your prayers and support. God Bless you and yours.

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I shall pass through this world but once. Any good therefore that I can do or any kindness that I can show to any human being, let me do it now. Let me not defer or neglect it. For I shall not pass this way again. Unknown

Father, we come before your throne of grace and ask that you touch our little Bethany. Father we know that is is not your will for your children to suffer and be sick. Lord, in the NAME OF JESUS, we ask that you heal the fear in this beloved mothers heat and make your presence known to her and all of Bethany's family and friends. We know that you are the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. And that it is you who is ABLE to do that and more abundently. IN THE NAME OF YOUR SON, who died for our sins on a cruel Roman cross that we might be healed in body, mind and spirit and be with you for all eternity. This we ask, Amen.

Set backs are tough but with God by your side we need no one else. Bethany heal quickly and you will be out playing in no time. Mom and Dad be strong and have faith. Children with dieases and defects are the most resilient of all children. I know as I have a Grandson that is set to have his 4th open heart surgery. He is strong and strongwilled and that is what gets children like him and Bethany through the tough times. Never give up and pray that is all any of us can do. God Bless Bethany and her family.

Bad stuff happens to good people, handle it and overcome.
My motto for life:
Let go and let GOD,
Only HE can control everything.

I know many of you have already read this, it's suppose to be a real story...I felt it was right for this post...as God is holding this little child in His arms...I pray she recovers completely...and in turn grows up to be a great lady..My paryers to her and her family...

The Smell of Rain A cold March wind danced around the dead of night in Dallas as the Doctor walked into the small hospital room of Diana Blessing. Still groggy from surgery, her husband David held her hand as they braced themselves for the latest news. That afternoon of March 10,1991, complications had forced Diana, only 24 weeks pregnant, to Danae Lu Blessing.

At 12 inches long and weighing only one pound and nine ounces, they already knew she was perilously premature. Still, the doctor's soft words dropped like bombs. I don't think she's going to make it, he said, as kindly as he could. "There's only a 10 percent chance she will live through the night, and even then, if by some slim chance she does make it, her future could be a very cruel one." Numb with disbelief, David and Diana listened as the doctor described the devastating problems Danae would likely face if she survived. She would never walk, she would never talk, she would probably be blind, and she would certainly be prone to other catastrophic conditions from cerebral palsy to complete mental retardation, and on and on. "No! No!" was all Diana could say. She and David, with their 5-year-old son Dustin, had long dreamed of the day they would have a daughter to become a family of four. Now, within a matter of hours, that dream was slipping away.

Through the dark hours of morning as Danae held onto life by the thinnest thread, Diana slipped in and out of sleep, growing more and more determined that their tiny daughter would live, and live to be a healthy, happy young girl. But David, fully awake and listening to additional dire details of their daughter's chances of ever leaving the hospital alive, much less healthy, knew he must confront his wife with the inevitable. David walked in and said that we needed to talk about making funeral arrangements. Diana remembers, 'I felt so bad for him because he was doing everything, trying to include me in what was going on, but I just wouldn't listen, I couldn't listen. I said, "No, that is not going to happen, no way! I don't care what the doctors say; Danae is not going to die! One day she will be just fine, and she will be coming home with us!"

As if willed to live by Diana's determination, Danae clung to life hour after hour, with the help of every medical machine and marvel her miniature body could endure. But as those first days passed, a new agony set in for David and Diana. Because Danae's under-developed nervous system was essentially raw, the lightest kiss or caress only intensified her discomfort, so they couldn't even cradle their tiny baby girl against their chests to offer the strength of their love. All they could do, as Danae struggled alone beneath the ultraviolet light in the tangle of tubes and wires, was to pray that God would stay close to their precious little girl. There was never a moment when Danae suddenly grew stronger.

But as the weeks went by, she did slowly gain an ounce of weight here and an ounce of strength there. At last, when Danae turned two months old, her parents were able to hold her in their arms for the very first time. And two months later-though doctors continued to gently but grimly warn that her chances of surviving, much less living any kind of normal life, were next to zero. Danae went home from the hospital, just as her mother had predicted.

Today, five years later, Danae is a petite but feisty young girl with glittering gray eyes and an unquenchable zest for life. She shows no signs, what so ever, of any mental or physical impairment. Simply, she is everything a little girl can be and more-but that happy ending is far from the end of her story.

One blistering afternoon in the summer of 1996 near her home in Irving, Texas, Danae was sitting in her mother's lap in the bleachers of a local ballpark where her brother Dustin's baseball team was practicing. As always, Danae was chattering non-stop with her mother and several other adults sitting nearby when she suddenly fell silent. Hugging her arms across her chest, Danae asked, "Do you smell that?" Smelling the air and detecting the approach of a thunderstorm, Diana replied, "Yes, it smells like rain." Danae closed her eyes and again asked, "Do you smell that?" Once again, her mother replied, "Yes, I think we're about to get wet, it smells like rain. Still caught in the moment, Danae shook her head, patted her thin shoulders with her small hands and loudly announced, "No, it smells like Him. It smells like God when you lay your head on His chest." Tears blurred Diana's eyes as Danae then happily hopped down to play with the other children.

Before the rains came, her daughter's words confirmed what Diana and all the members of the extended Blessing family had known, at least in their hearts, all along. During those long days and nights of her first two months of her life, when her nerves were too sensitive for them to touch her, God was holding Danae on His chest and it is His loving scent that she remembers so well.

I Don't look back for long, I keep looking Forward!
From every human being there rises a light that reaches straight to heaven.